NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580

NVIDIA launched its first Fermi-based GPU earlier this year in the form of the GeForce GTX 480, and it was met with mixed reception. Until now, it’s been the fastest single-GPU offering on the market, but certain downsides kept it from being the first-choice of many. Does NVIDIA’s first proper follow-up fix all that was wrong?

Page 6 – Metro 2033

One of the more popular Internet memes for the past couple of years has been, “Can it run Crysis?”, but as soon as Metro 2033 launched, that’s a meme that should have died. Metro 2033 is without question one of the beefiest games on the market, and though it supports DirectX 11, it’s almost a feature worth ignoring, because the extent you’ll need to go to in order to see playable framerates isn’t likely going to be worth it.

Manual Run-through: The level we use for testing is part of chapter 4, called “Child”, where we must follow a linear path through multiple corridors until we reach our end point, which takes a total of about 90 seconds. Please note that due to the reason mentioned above, we test this game in DX10 mode, as DX11 simply isn’t that realistic from a performance standpoint.

Metro 2033 is so AMD-bound, it’s almost a little insulting. At the same time, it’s also insulting that DirectX 11 mode is still unplayable at decent settings with even the GTX 580. At the settings above though, NVIDIA’s latest broke through the 40 FPS mark which is key.

Graphics Card

Best Playable

Min FPS

Avg. FPS

AMD HD 6870 1GB (CrossFireX)

2560×1600 – High Detail, 0xAA

46

64.47

AMD HD 5970 1GB (Reference)

2560×1600 – High Detail, 0xAA

40

60.182

AMD HD 6850 1GB (CrossFireX)

2560×1600 – High Detail, 0xAA

41

57.134

NVIDIA GTX 580 1536MB (Reference)

2560×1600 – High Detail, 0xAA

31

40.94

NVIDIA GTX 480 1536MB (Reference)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

46

62.563

AMD HD 5870 1GB (Sapphire)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

39

60.947

AMD HD 6870 1GB (Reference)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

38

54.442

NVIDIA GTS 450 1GB (SLI)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

32

50.060

NVIDIA GTX 470 1280MB (EVGA)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

35

49.220

AMD HD 5850 1GB (ASUS)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

30

47.746

AMD HD 6850 1GB (Reference)

2560×1600 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

34

44.377

NVIDIA GTX 460 1GB (EVGA)

1920×1080 – High Detail, DX10, 0xAA

45

66.894

AMD HD 5830 1GB (Reference)

1920×1080 – High Detail, DX10, 0xAA

30

44.030

AMD HD 5770 1GB (Reference)

1920×1080 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

32

52.555

AMD HD 5750 1GB (Sapphire)

1920×1080 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

32

47.660

NVIDIA GTS 450 1GB (ASUS)

1920×1080 – Medium Detail, DX10, 0xAA

30

47.608

40 FPS is about the limit as far as “best playable” goes, and the GTX 580 hit that fine. Metro 2033 is a strange first-person shooter where 40 FPS almost feels like 60 FPS, so 40 FPS here is very much playable – especially in order to retain the higher detail settings.

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Rob founded Techgage in 2005 to be an 'Advocate of the consumer', focusing on fair reviews and keeping people apprised of news in the tech world. Catering to both enthusiasts and businesses alike; from desktop gaming to professional workstations, and all the supporting software.